My Passive Income Obsession, Stalled Website & Word of The Year

Hope you had a fabulous Holiday. Mine was filled with food, family, friends and fun! 🙂

I went on an Internet detox after Thanksgiving and greatly limited the time I spent online in the last month of the year.

It always feels very weird when you first disconnect because you feel like you’re missing out on so much, and I didn’t like not updating my blog for so long.

But I realized I needed it, and after the FOMO (fear of missing out) wears off, you start to welcome the pause.

I had done this before and forgot how great it felt! I need to do this more often.

eLearning Niche Site Update

To put it simply, the project became a headache. 🙁

So what happened?

Two things…

Technical difficulties

Distraction by another passive income source I’ll talk about in a sec

So let’s start with the technical difficulties.

Everything was going smoothly with MemberMouse, which was the plugin I was using to process the payments.

I loved it (once I learned how to use it.)

But MemberMouse is just the payment processor. It doesn’t have anything to do with the display of the course videos in WordPress.

Sure, I could have just embedded the videos into the WordPress pages, but I wanted a user-friendly navigation within the course itself like Udemy, Teachable, etc.

So I installed a premium plugin called WP Couseware. This provides a better interface for the course, a table of contents landing page, etc.

As I was going through my final rounds of testing, I noticed an ugly code error displayed along the bottom of every page of the course.

I assumed it was WP Courseware because when I disabled the plugin, the error went away.

I contacted them and they could not duplicate the issue. So it probably had something to do with a clash with another plugin installed.

But I didn’t want to disable the other plugins because I needed them.

The bottom line was it made me super nervous about the whole process. What if I had been live and couldn’t resolve the problem? 😮

I didn’t like the feeling of having a broken site and not know how to fix it. Meanwhile the plugin creators are pointing fingers at each other.

Thank goodness all this happened while testing and not after I went live.

That’s the downside of self hosting and using two separate plugins that are not affiliated with one another.

Sure, I know there are other options with WordPress, but going through that made me realize it’s best for me to stick with 3rd party course sites.

I was kind of bummed about the whole thing after being so excited about it last year, but what happened below quickly got me out of my funk. 🙂

My Passive Income Addiction

During all this, I became distracted by T-shirt sales because I started selling designs in different niches.

Last year was a record year, thanks to the 4th quarter, and I want to crush that in 2017.

It began when I started watching different YouTube videos so I could learn how to use the pen tool and draw more cartoon-like designs.

That’s one tool that really really aggravates me, but it’s the key to drawing illustrations in Photoshop or Illustrator because you can draw curves and arcs like you see in the pic below.

So after playing around with it, I started learning how to draw basic characters from scratch. (And I do mean basic!)

My designs improved and so did my passive income in the 4th quarter of last year.

I had a very simple Halloween cartoon design that ended up earning me around $500 in 7 days with absolutely no marketing.

I also had good organic success with Spreadshirt’s marketplace in 2016 selling funny shirts about wine, birthdays, golf, pop culture and more.

Again, there was no marketing or niche site attached to the shirts whatsoever.

A side hobby went from hundreds per month to thousands per month in the last 3 months of 2016.

How crazy that this is possible for someone who has absolutely NO background in design! And trust me when I say I am not anywhere close to being an artist or designer.

But this is why I love the Internet. 🙂 There are so many different opportunities to earn.

So now I’m thinking about how I can scale this even more.

I’m completely obsessed with this model and have been since I discovered it in 2011. Not just because it’s passive, but because it’s so much fun!

[Sigh] And Then There’s Facebook

The one roadblock I have is selling shirts from my Facebook pages.

I have several niche pages (one has over 13,000 likes). I bought the first 2000 likes in the Summer of 2015 ($100), and the remaining 11,000 came organically by posting funny memes.

These pages have an excellent reach and engagement, but I would love to learn how to convert more T-shirt sales.

You may remember me talking about the shirt orders that came in on this podcast, but I haven’t had them roll in that frequently since.

I think a group of people must’ve ordered them for an event because the same design kept selling over and over for a short period of time.

I get that people don’t go on Facebook to shop, but there are still others selling shirts regularly from their pages, and I just haven’t been able to crack the code.

Private Facebook Group, Anyone?

I’m considering starting a private Facebook group for this income model and opening it up to my existing students in my Affiliate, Photoshop and Spreadshirt courses since they are most relevant to this.

The reason I’m considering Facebook is…

That’s where most people are these days

Live streaming is convenient for teaching and Q&A

So if you’d be interested in joining my private group on this let me know below or email me. I think it would be fun!

We could share experiences, triumphs, challenges, Facebook marketing and so many other things.

With all the new P.O.D. stuff happening this year, we’d have a lot to talk about!

I Miss The Community Environment

Unfortunately the malware and spambots got the best of Website Babble, but I miss having the community.

It was a great way to connect with my loyal followers, and I loved the positive vibes going on there.

I want to create that again, but in a more focused / niche way.

I told myself I would never setup an online community again unless there was a strategy behind it.

As great as Website Babble was from a community standpoint, I was never strategic about how I used it. It just hung out there and was quite disconnected from everything else I did.

Years ago I would have never considered Facebook over a self-hosted community, but I cannot ignore the popularity, convenience and live streaming has been a game-changer.

Love it or hate it… Facebook is where people are — especially in the 30-55 yr old demographic.

And with a private group, I wouldn’t have to worry about organic reach like a regular page.

My Word for 2017

I feel like I am the only person who hasn’t announced their “word of the year!”

I actually like that idea rather than a resolution because I never stick to those anyway. 😀

If you haven’t heard, the idea is to create one word that sums up what you want to concentrate on for the upcoming year.

My word is…

FOCUS.

Being your own boss is a blessing and a curse.

It’s a blessing because…

You set the rules

You answer to no one but yourself

You are fully in control of your own destiny.

Ironically, that blessing can be a curse because I have trouble focusing on ONE thing.

I tend to get bored VERY easily with one thing quickly and move on to another. I’ve been that way my whole life.

When I was in Corporate America, I haaaaaaaated having to do the same thing everyday.

The only thing that kept me going was I had a fun group of coworkers, and I looked forward to working on my websites when I got home. 🙂

But because I love so many things about computers and being online, I always end up with 101 things I’m working on at once, and I get distracted so easily!

So if anyone has any tips on what works best for you to stay focused, I’m all eyes! 🙂

Do you keep a to-do list? (I do sometimes, but never stick to it.)

Do you use any kind of app? How do you stay on track and meet your goals?

Hope you have a fabulous and prosperous 2017, and please let me know if you’d be interested in a private T-shirt group!

I would like to join your facebook group. I’ve been an SBIer for 7 years built 2 sites which were hit by Google. Built a third which has been so incredibly hard to get free traffic to that I have just given up completely. Its time to move on and find a better, more fun way to earn an income online.

I’m intrigued by the idea of you creating a Face book group, most of them are a dime a dozen usually a venue to promote some MLM nonsense. Your group would surely be an island of vision in a sea of muck!

Hi Lisa, I would love to join your FB group. My husband and I were talking just a little while ago about getting serious with our business we’ve been trying to start for months now. Thanks for the push. We needed it!

Meditation.
I’m not sure if you’ve tried it before but I think you will enjoy it. Right now I’m using an app called Calm but I also like one called Stop, Breathe and Think. Honestly you don’t really need an app to meditate but it does help when you’re first getting started. It’s not easy to silence all those voices in our heads.

Of course you know I’d love to be part of your Facebook Group. I spend a lot of time in groups but I’m really worried that Facebook is planning to change them somehow. I know that a lot of money is being generated from inside the groups and I just can’t imagine they are going to sit by and let that happen without getting their cut. 🙂

Is there are reason you are leaning toward Thinkific versus Teachable? I can’t seem to find anyone who can tell me a solid reason for picking one over the other. What about Skillshare and all the others?

One more thing – are you considering integrating Pinterest into a strategy for promoting your new designs?

Happy New Year Ileane! Yes, girl. I use that Calm app all the time!! Funny you mention this because I was just using it last night with my bubble bath. I use it on airplanes, before bed, you name it. It helps with quieting my busy mind. 🙂

The reason I am concerned about Teachable is I have been hearing complaints about their support. I spoke with the founder of Thinkific before the Holidays and he mentioned how many people are leaving Teachable and coming over to Thinkific. He told me to join their private group and see how many people have posted about leaving Teachable.

Of course he will be biased toward his own product, but the one thing I like about Thinkific over Teachable is they have more variety with bundling courses. Teachable can bundle but is kind of limited with how you can bundle (and how many courses) from what I understand.

Maybe I need to do a post about this so I can get feedback from other users. I know you use Teachable and so do many others, but the complaints about support were concerning.

I didn’t know about the FB group stuff. Oh boy. Well, I will still probably go ahead with it for now. I can always move the group to another platform if need be. Thanks for sharing that! 🙂

You had inquired about differences between Skillshare and some of the other online learning platforms (i.e. Udemy, Teachable, Thinkific). In addition to the many aspects that Lisa listed, I believe that Skillshare’s instructional model is “project-based learning.”

The final project doesn’t have to be complicated nor off-putting, just a little demonstration so the student can tie together what she learned in the course. Also, the posting of final products fosters a since of community within the course shell and helps to drive positive reviews.

Udemy and Skillshare are known destinations for folks seeking to enroll in e-learning courses.

Teachable and Thinkific, to my knowledge, don’t offer course promotion. It is completely up to the course creator to drive traffic to her site/school.

Regarding meditation…almost a month ago, I started using the guided meditation app Headspace by Andy Puddicombe. I agree, you don’t need an app to stop, breathe and settle the mind, but I find it helps to have it as a structured part of my morning routine.

Happy 2017!

Be well,

Michelle 🙂

P.S. Lisa, I’m very interested in a Facebook group that you establish! Ironically, I was just reviewing the clip from the Ps course that highlights using an image as a background on text.

I tried Headspace and it was nice too. At the time I think I was a little turned off by the price but I ended up paying for the Calm app and upgrading on SBT as well.
Love the #DailyCalm!

Yes, you are correct about Thinkific and Teachable. They don’t have a marketplace where people can find your course but they on the other hand they offer more control over pricing.

I haven’t used Skillshare but I know that one of the biggest complaints about Udemy is about their pricing and how they always put your course on sale. It caused such a raucous among instructors that they changed their business model at least twice maybe even three times in 2016. With that said, I do recommend starting out on Udemy just to get a taste for what it’s like to have an online course. The instructors you connect with in the Udemy Facebook groups are super helpful too!

Agree Ileane, their pricing structure really made things nuts in 2016! That’s one thing that has turned me off from them. They are trying a lot of things but I don’t like not having as much control. That is indeed what I like about Teachable, Thinkific and Teachery.

I keep getting invites from the owner to try SkillSuccess (not to be confused with Skillshare) as well but I’m also very cautious about having courses in too many places. I guess it’s fine if the price is consistent across the board but I am still researching.

I tell people who are new to Udemy to consider turning off their promotions if they have an audience. I did and I’m still getting Marketplace sales BUT I’m getting more per sale. Had 2 yesterday from my affiliate course at full price. It keeps prices more consistent and I don’t like that they run too many discounts. I’m glad they let us opt out. So yes, I do get fewer marketplace sales but more money per student. So my income is virtually the same, if not more some months.

So many choices, so many new things coming up. Haven’t decided what I want to do yet.

I do enjoy Udemy’s FB group. Lots of helpful people. I’m looking to create that same kind of environment with the shirts. 🙂

Just going back thru and realized I didn’t answer all your questions. Pinterest is tricky. I don’t upload shirts too much there anymore because affiliate links are against the rules (even though they aren’t policing it).

The other issue is you have NO idea if those sales are coming from Pinterest because the POD sites don’t give you referring data. So most of my success has been purely organic (outside of the hair niche) and have never been posted on social media.

Happy New Year, Kim!! Cheers to more passive income for all of us. 🙂 I haven’t decided exactly how I’m going to do the invites yet but I’m gonna open it up to students first and then go from there. But I’ll definitely let ya know! 🙂

I completely resonate you regarding the e-learning plugins. It’s incredible how much time can be wasted trying to fix the technical challenges they create.

After researching a lot of combinations, I found Gumroad to be a good option. You can upload the files there and buyers can download them, but they can also read text files and watch videos directly on their platform.

Cheers,
Eugene

P.S. I also have trouble sticking to ONE thing. Trying hard to really FOCUS in 2017 though…

Nope. Private groups don’t work like regular pages with regards to reach.

FB tends to sort the posts by popularity but you still get your notifications on FB when a new post is made. The reason I wanted to make it private is to encourage people to enroll in my courses and also give my paying students more value.

I’d be watching n checking on on a FB community. Sounds like it would be fun. I did wonder what had happened to Website Babble. I also had a ton of new visitors to my site during the last quarter of 2016, and I still am not sure why. It has since slowed down here. Enjoy your life!!!!!!!!! 🙂

Would value being a part of your private FaceBook group. Having operated a imprinted sportswear biz for some 10 years…I know some factors that influence product selections.
Big difference between one-off purchases and a tee with a purpose” event promo, family function, school unity message. ” the more people involved in the decision–the slower the decision”
Being a source of decision-making influence that is based on some logic: in design, in fabric, in number of colors etc. is a VALUABLE offering!
Appreciate your thoughtful reflections and analysis.

As a fellow Shiny Object Syndrome creative, the only suggestion I have for distraction is to embrace it. Learn to work within its confines and you’ll discover something amazing: focus is overrated.

Not to pick on your word of the year but! Focus leads to perfectionism leads to delayed launches. The one good thing about focus is another word of the year (courtesy of my friend, Mitch Mitchell): intention.

Now, what I think happens is this. People decide to focus. The DECISION is the catalyst. The intention to focus, coupled with the wonderful chaos of distraction, manifests in connections, conceptions and creations!

Connections can only be made when there are more than the two paths offered by focus. Conceptions come from exploring these paths. Creations surely follow.

If this sounds made-up, all you have to do is fly up to 30,000 feet and review the timeline of 2createawebsite. The points where the timeline seem to spike are when you decide to embark on something new, even if it is just testing a plugin or online service. Because of this seeming chaos, you made some interesting connections (we readers may even have benefited from them, but they are YOUR connections).

Anyway, I embrace distractions with a two-part approach: one, record everything. Every idea, stupid or not, goes into Evernote, OneNote, bookmark, or special folder; two, whenever I revisit an idea, I run with it until I become bored.

The result is that the ideas are updated, connections are made and explored. Eventually, something will be created.

And that’s where you came in, today. With the post, you shared a thought that I see repeated over and over and over: just launch it. You made crazy money with basic design. A perfectionist (looking at myself, here) would have missed out, trying to get the designs to look more professional.

When I think of all the kitsch people buy, your point is driven home. If you have humor, a basic design to support the message is just as good as an engineered graphic or professional photo. Maybe even better because – and this DID just occur to me – people relate more to refrigerator art than the Louvre gallery…

Without focus, your biz can’t gain momentum. And momentum is where the magic happens.

Staying with the focus for a minute, (Then I’ll share my 1st thought as I started reading this post) here is how I broke the pattern of bunny hopping:

1) I decide on my Focus for the next 90-days. I write down what I want that focus to accomplish. Specifically.

2) I determine when my “Prime Time” is (and it always has to be the first working time slot of the day.) So for me it’s 7-9am Mon, Fri. and 9-12am Tu, Wed, Th.

3) I only work on focus activities during Prime Time.

4) Every day when I’m shutting down work, I take out a 3×5 card and on the front I write the #1 activity for the next day, and on the other side I write other focus tasks if I have time. [This is a CRUCIAL STEP.]

5) I allow myself to bunny trail outside Prime Time. I tried not to do this but it was just too much for me. Haha ..so rather than beat myself up over it, I allow it.

Now, to my first reaction to this post.

Oh. My. Gosh! You have read my mind. Happy dance.

YES, to the FB group. I am very interested in pursuing tees. I took your awesome Spreadshirt class. Made a few tees. Made a few bucks (w/o any marketing , too) and then went off onto something else. Where, I’m not sure. Sigh.

As far as FB groups, I’m with ya. Personally, I do zero marketing with FB. Nada. Cannot stand the platform, however I do have an acct so I can join the few group accts. I’m interested in.

BTW, I think we need a moment of silence in honor of Website Babble. That is a lost era… and then…. and then, the FB group can be a fresh, exciting start. I’m excited that you’ll be in it with us. 🙂

darlene
p.s. Altho I’m including my website link, I’m still recovering from a hack myself so site is not up to par. :/

Thank you for sharing what you do! I’m so loving the feedback here. Yeah the lack of momentum was what I was referring to with the lack of focus bit in the post. I guess there are good and bad aspects to the way my brain works. LOL I need to adopt your model to get more disciplined!

You are soooo right about the end of an era can bring about something new. This is gonna sound corny but last summer as I sat in front of Photoshop, I prayed for a way to somehow further incorporate this into my business. With a FB group I can learn from fellow students what they want to learn and teach even more. Who knows…. a new niche site could come out of this group!

I’m starting to think the failure of that other site might have been a blessing. 🙂

Yes! Yes! Yes! I feel the saaaaaaaaame way. I’m so sorry to hear about your hacking situation but very cool that you can look at the bright side of things. 🙂 I’ve learned from our online and offline combos that you and I seem to have a lot in common. 🙂

I totally relate to where Lisa is coming from about getting bored easily and always wanting to try something new; but what you said about making the connections, her willingness to launch, and how people get stuck in perfectionism made perfect sense!

Lisa, sorry to hear about your course site troubles. I’m in the middle of setting one up for myself, moving my stuff from Teachable. A bit discouraged by your experience, but still prepared to see it through to the end, will see how it goes. I’ve selected MemberPress as my membership plugin, and I’m thinking about using Thrive Themes Apprentice feature to set up the course outline etc. Keeping my fingers crossed they’ll work together. Can’t wait for Thrive to come up with their own membership plugin.

But if I may ask, why are you moving from Teachable? I have heard a lot about customer service issues with them. I spoke with one of the guys from Thinkific on the phone last year and he was so nice. If I ever move, I would probably go there over Teachable. Do you mind sharing why you are moving away?

I’m a control freak, for one. 🙂 My biggest issue is not having the community element inside the courses. I’m obsessed with supporting my students, and for awhile I’ve been running courses on Teachable + Facebook group for student discussions. That was OK for a small group, but I want a better long-term solution, with everything under one roof. I’m thinking about using buddypress inside my membership site.

I love your site and your posts. I am a “closet on-line marketing junkie” I have a successful service business that I run from my home for the past 25 years. But its time to take my expertise on line for less physical work and more passive income streams. It took me months just to start a blog, but I’m overwhelmed with the amount of information and necessities required to actually make it profitable. It may be time to employ some help, you up for that challenge?

Yes I would be interested in a Facebook group. I would like to learn more about different design tools. Even though at this point I can only draw stick figures 🙂
I always hold out hope that I can learn a new skill.